Robustness of energy performance of Zero-Net-Energy (ZNE) homes

Picard, Theo; Hong, Tianzhen; Luo, Na; Lee, Sang Hoon; Sun, Kaiyu

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110251

Robustness of energy performance of Zero-Net-Energy (ZNE) homes

Journal Article · Sat Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Energy and Buildings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110251· OSTI ID:1769320

Picard, Theo ^[1]; Hong, Tianzhen ^[2]; Luo, Na ^[2]; Lee, Sang Hoon ^[2]; Sun, Kaiyu ^[2]

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); École Normale Supérieure, Paris-Saclay (France)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Zero-net-energy (ZNE) homes produce an adequate amount of energy on-site to meet their energy demand based on source energy for an entire year. California building energy efficiency standards require new residential buildings started in 2020 to be ZNE. For various reasons, a home designed as ZNE may not achieve ZNE performance in real operation. Here we aimed to quantify the robustness of the energy performance of ZNE homes due to weather variability, climate change, and the uncertainty of occupant behavior. A single-family ZNE house, based on the optimal cost-effective design in three California climate zones, was used to develop the EnergyPlus simulation models. Weather variations were considered from a combination of the historical 30 years’ actual meteorological year (AMY) weather data, typical year weather data in TMY3, and future weather data based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios. Three scenarios of occupant behavior from the energy perspective were defined to represent the uncertainty about occupants’ activities, comfort requirements, and their adaptive interactions with buildings and systems. In terms of annual source energy, the simulation results of the ZNE homes showed: (1) a decrease of 23–38 percent for occupants with energy austerity behavior and an increase of 120–130 percent for occupants with energy wasteful behavior, compared with the baseline assumption of normal occupants; (2) a variation range of –15 percent to +14 percent for the results using 30-year AMY weather data compared with the baseline results using TMY3 weather data; (3) an increase of 10–13 percent with future weather in Fresno and Riverside and a decrease of 15 percent with San Francisco; and (4) climate change can reduce the gap between the austerity and wasteful consumption. These findings provide insights into how ZNE homes may perform in reality and inform architects, engineers, occupants, and policymakers to pay more attention to occupant behavior on design, operation, and regulations of ZNE homes to ensure energy performance robustness.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1769320

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1809581

Journal Information:: Energy and Buildings, Journal Name: Energy and Buildings Vol. 224; ISSN 0378-7788

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
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Robustness of energy performance of Zero-Net-Energy (ZNE) homes

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